This invention relates to the field of shifter mechanisms for use with automotive transmissions and more particularly pertains to a remote control manual shift selector mechanism which incorporates electrical position sensors operative for transmitting shift-by-wire signals to suitable actuators thereby executing desired transmission gear selections.
With the advent of shift controls for vehicle transmissions employing electronic drive-by-wire technology, a need arose for a "shift-by-wire" manually operated shift control mechanism to satisfy traditional driver expectations of a conventional gearshift lever device. One example of a prior art electronically-controlled transmission system is a five speed transmission developed by Isuzu Motors called NAVIS. The NAVIS system is described in an article published in the JSAE Review magazine dated Nov. 1984 entitled "Isuzu New Transmission Control System". The article describes the system as follows:
"NAVIS is an automatic transmission capable of electronically controlling a dry clutch and a synchromesh gear transmission to permit easy driving, making maximum use of the excellent fuel economy of the manual transmission system. The adoption of a computer program duplicating the actions of experienced drivers in manual transmissions shifting and the select lever with conventional H-floor shift pattern enables a sporty gearshift, just like a manual transmission on the one hand and easy driving by merely depressing the accelerator pedal as an automatic transmission on the other."
The development of a remote control mechanism for a motor vehicle manual gear shift lever or handle to the transmission gear select and shifting rails has resulted in various solutions. An example of one such mechanism is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,640 issued Dec. 15, 1987 to Leigh-Monstevens et al. entitled Hydraulic Remote Control For Motor Vehicle Manual Shift Transmission. The '640 patent discloses a driven member supported for both linear and rotary motion. A push-pull cable transmits the linear motion of the drive member to the driven member, and master and slave hydraulic linear actuators transmit the rotary motion of the drive member to the driven member so that the transmission is responsive to the shifting lever being moved along two perpendicular paths of motion in a gear shifting pattern.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,248 issued Feb. 3, 1987 to Stoltman discloses a failsafe drive-by-wire engine control system in which the engine is set to an idle operating mode when the force applied to the accelerator pedal is in an off-idle position.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,507,736 issued Mar. 26, 1985 to Klatt discloses a gear shift control system for a motor vehicle in which a micro-computer is fed signals representative of the output speed of the transmission and the selected gear positions.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,790,204 issued Dec. 13, 1988 to Tury et al. discloses an electric shift apparatus for use with a motor vehicle having an automatic transmission. The apparatus includes a power module adapted to be mounted on the housing of the transmission proximate the transmission mode select lever and the transmission kick-down lever and a control module adapted to be mounted in the passenger compartment of the vehicle.